Beyoncé's Media Move Not So Glamorous

HuffPost Live reported Wednesday on Beyoncé’s ban on professional photographers during her “Mrs. Carter Tour.” (Video)

News Outlets Urged to Counter Ban on Photographers

The general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association is urging the news media to refuse to run the official publicity photos of Beyoncé’s latest concert tour that the entertainer is posting in lieu of allowing photographers at the events.

“That’s only going to encourage bad behavior,” Mickey H. Osterreicher told Journal-isms Friday by telephone.

“Let’s say she’s exhausted and passed out on stage. Do you think we’d see those photos? I don’t think so,” Osterreicher said. “They’ll realize they can’t have it both ways.” They become celebrities because of the publicity, then, when they become stars, “they try to control.”

Sean Michaels reported Wednesday in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, “The move to prohibit press photographers is seen by most observers as a reaction to this year’s Super Bowl kerfuffle, when sites such as Gawker and [BuzzFeed] compiled ‘unflattering’ images of Beyoncé’s jubilant exertions. After publishing these shots by Getty Images, [BuzzFeed] received an email from Beyoncé’s US publicist Yvette Noel-Schure, ‘respectfully asking’ the site to ‘change’ their article. ‘I am certain you will be able to find some better photos,’ Noel-Schure wrote.

“As the blog Fstoppers points out, barring professionals means that newspapers and magazines will have to rely on amateurs: ‘[The media] will do anything possible to get images that other publications don’t have,’ explained Noam Galai. ‘If they can’t send a photographer to give them original photos, the next best thing they can do is buy photos from fans in the front rows in the arena … Now, not only is the mainstream media showing unflattering photos of her, they are showing bad-quality unflattering photos of her.’ “

As Osterreicher pointed out, the move by Beyoncé is the latest attempt by public figures to control coverage of them, but not the most offensive.

Just last week, Osterreicher said, a legislator met with some of the families victimized by the Boston Marathon bombers, but banned the press, instead having a staffer make photos available.

In 2011, Lady Gaga was even more audacious. Andrew Beaujon and Jay Westcott wrote then for the now-defunct TBD.com, based in Washington, “At her Verizon Center concert last week, photographers were given a ‘Photo Release Form’ to sign.” It included this language: “Photographer hereby acknowledges and agrees that all right, title and interest (including copyright) in and to the Photograph(s) shall be owned by Lady Gaga and Photographer hereby transfers and assigns any such rights to Lady Gaga.“

Altered photo from Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office includes female members o In January, the staff of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi digitally altered an image of female members of Congress to include four legislators who did not show up for the photo session — and some news organizations that used the image realized the fraud too late.

Still, Pelosi defended the image.

“It was an accurate historical record of who the Democratic women of Congress are,” Pelosi said at a news conference, according to the Huffington Post. “It also is an accurate record that it was freezing cold and our members had been waiting a long time for everyone to arrive and … had to get back into the building to greet constituents, family members, to get ready to go to the floor. It wasn’t like they had the rest of the day to stand there.”

Replied Osterreicher, “They could save time and just Photoshop everyone.” He said there were a couple of instances where legislators were moved around because they weren’t seen clearly enough. Another’s hair was “fixed,” he said.

Even journalists have been guilty. In December, the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, pleading lack of space, announced that “there will not be any media availability for our special guests: San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and Telemundo Anchor José Díaz-Balart.” It added, “The Chapter will release pictures, video, and a write-up on our website as we usually do with our events. . . .” A national NAHJ board member apologized privately.

The Beyoncé tour began April 15 in Serbia and continues until Aug. 5 in Brooklyn, N.Y. It could not be determined whether news media in Europe were using the authorized photos or those taken by concertgoers or photographers who simply bought tickets and sat in the audience.

Writing Thursday in Slate, Alyssa Rosenberg agreed with Osterreicher.

“Knowles-Carter is used to getting her way with these things, it seems,” Rosenberg wrote. “Her commercial draw is such that HBO even aired an entire documentary about her that she produced herself, rather than an independently directed examination that might have produced actual insights. But while Knowles-Carter may have the right to log her life all she likes, no news outlet should feel required to oblige her directives. If Knowles-Carter is going to stick to this demand on her tour, news outlets should pay for fans’ crowd-sourced photos instead — or just not cover the tour at all.”

The South Africa National Editors’ Forum said in 2011, when Lady Gaga imposed a similar ban on free news media photography in that country, “The only way in which the public can trust media coverage of such events is when journalists and photographers can operate freely and independently and the public is aware of this.

“A ban on photographers or interference with journalists would immediately raise public suspicions about the integrity of reports of such events. Should this occur not only will the newspaper be harmed but so will the attraction of the event.”

Meanwhile, the Radio Television Digital News Association joined NPPA and other journalism organizations to oppose California proposals to restrict newsgathering.

“Two bills making their way through the California legislature, AB-1256 and AB-1356 would broadly redefine personal privacy with the intent of keeping paparazzi away from celebrities, but with the added consequences of severely curtailing legitimate newsgathering, while exposing journalists to criminal prosecution and civil liability,” RTDNA reported.

NPPA reported Tuesday, however, “In the wake of opposition from NPPA and other groups the CA Assembly Judiciary Committee made both AB-1256 and AB-1356 ‘2 year bills.’ A 2 year bill is one which will not move out of the policy committee this year. It is eligible to be taken up again at the beginning of the 2nd year of the biennial session thus the term ‘2 year bill.’ . . . “

Rakhi Kumar, Urban Intellectuals: An Open Letter to Michelle Obama: Beyonce is Not a Role Model
Beyoncé Award Prompts New Look at Criteria: N.Y. Black Journalists to Honor Pop Star’s Essay in Essence (May 4, 2012)

Vibe Magazine Sold, to Become Digital Only

“Online publisher SpinMedia has acquired Vibe magazine with plans to operate it as a digital property and without the print edition, the company said today,” Nat Ives reported Thursday for Ad Age. “Terms were not disclosed.

“The deal, first reported by All Things D, brings Vibe and Spin back together, in website form at least. Spin magazine and Vibe magazine both once belonged to Vibe/Spin Media until a series of ownership changes that delivered Spin to BuzzMedia last year. BuzzMedia, which owns or sells ads for sites including Stereogum and Idolator, shuttered Spin’s print edition and later changed the company’s name to SpinMedia.

“Vibe was founded in 1992 by Time Warner and Quincy Jones. Time Inc. sold Vibe in 1996; the buyers sold Vibe again 10 years later. It went out of print in 2009, but returned within months under yet another set of owners, investors led by InterMedia Partners. Last summer the magazine said it would embrace electronic dance music along with its usual hip-hop and pop culture coverage.

“Vibe’s website will do better as part of a larger portfolio of websites, according to Ari Horowitz, CEO of Vibe Media. ‘It’s about scale, it’s about really good brands and it’s about being able to leverage infrastructure,’ he said. ‘That’s the way you win in the digital media business.’ . . . “

Boston Carjacking “Unfolds Like Tarantino Movie”

Eric Moskowitz of the Boston Globe explains what a 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur told him about being carjacked by a suspect in the Boston Marathon killings. (Video)

“The 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur had just pulled his new Mercedes to the curb on Brighton Avenue to answer a text when an old sedan swerved behind him, slamming on the brakes. A man in dark clothes got out and approached the passenger window,” Eric Moskowitz reported Friday for the Boston Globe. “It was nearly 11 p.m. last Thursday.

“The man rapped on the glass, speaking quickly. Danny, unable to hear him, lowered the window — and the man reached an arm through, unlocked the door, and climbed in, brandishing a silver handgun.

” ‘Don’t be stupid,’ he told Danny. He asked if he had followed the news about Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings. Danny had, down to the release of the grainy suspect photos less than six hours earlier.

” ‘I did that,’ said the man, who would later be identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev. ‘And I just killed a policeman in Cambridge.’

“He ordered Danny to drive — right on Fordham Road, right again on Commonwealth Avenue — the beginning of an achingly slow odyssey last Thursday night and Friday morning in which Danny felt the possibility of death pressing on him like a vise.

“In an exclusive interview with the Globe on Thursday, Danny — the victim of the Tsarnaev brothers’ much-discussed but previously little-understood carjacking — filled in some of the last missing pieces in the timeline between the murder of MIT police officer Sean Collier, just before 10:30 p.m. on April 18, and the Watertown shootout that ended just before 1 a.m. Danny asked that he be identified only by his American nickname.

“The story of that night unfolds like a Tarantino movie, bursts of harrowing action laced with dark humor and dialogue absurd for its ordinariness, reminders of just how young the men in the car were. . . . “

John Cassidy, New Yorker: What If the Tsarnaevs Had Been the “Boston Shooters”?
Jon Friedman, Media Matrix: Did U.S. Media Shortchange the Texas Tragedy?
Emil Guillermo blog, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: A few things I learned about us after Boston
Dan Kennedy with María Hinojosa, “Latino USA,” NPR: The Boston Marathon Bombing, “News or Noise?” (audio)
Julianne Malveaux, syndicated: Blame a Dark-Skinned Man
Eric Moskowitz with Robert Siegel on “All Things Considered,” NPR: Carjacking Victim Of Boston Suspects Recalls Harrowing Night
Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Our Curious National ‘Celebrations’
Qasim Rashid, Huffington Post: Do You Even Hear Muslims When We Condemn Violence?
Akiba Solomon, Colorlines: Decoding the Invisible Whiteness In Boston Bombing Coverage
Emily Swanson, Huffington Post: Boston Bombing Media Poll Finds Good Ratings Overall, Lower Believability For CNN
Meenal Vamburkar, Mediaite: Howard Kurtz: Media Had ‘Maybe Too Much Sensitivity’ On ‘Question Of Islamic Jihad’ After Bombing

“Are You With It?” (1948) featured Donald O’Connor as a mathematician. But it was no “All the President’s Men” or “The Front Page.” (credit: http://www.emovieposter.com)

Actuary Beats Newspaper Reporter? Get Me Rewrite

The CareerCast survey this week that ranked “newspaper reporter” as this year’s worst job rubbed some reporters the wrong way, especially since “actuary” was ranked the best.

The CareerCast survey considered the newspaper reporter job literally; journalists who work in other media were not included. Still, it rankled.

“When was last time you went to see a movie with an actuary as the lead protagonist or one in a leading role?” Ruben Rosario wrote Thursday in the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn.

“Among newspaper reporters, we have, among many others: ‘All the President’s Men,’ ‘The Front Page,’ ‘His Girl Friday,’ ‘The Killing Fields,’ ‘State of Play,’ ‘The Soloist’ and ‘The Paper,’ loosely based on my former employer, a New York City-based tabloid.

“Superman, arguably the most popular comic-book superhero of all time, did not choose actuary as his civilian job cover. He chose ‘mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.’

“Actuaries? Let’s see. No superhero I know of. There was a 1948 movie titled “[Are You With It?],” a musical comedy starring the late Donald O’Connor as an actuary forced to join a carnival after he misplaced a decimal point on a statistical table. Riveting stuff. Must have been a box-office blockbuster.

“I asked folks to connect me with an actuary with a sense of humor for this piece. I was told that would be a nearly impossible task. I heard there’s a whole nest of them over at Securian, two blocks from the newsroom. Then I heard back they needed permission from corporate as well as from their mothers and then they had to devise a spreadsheet to assess whether there would be a probability of favorable outcome in publicly talking to me on the record.

“A photographer volunteered a neighbor who is an actuary but added, “he’s not necessarily a funny guy, kind of quiet. . . .”

Others have likewise commented on writing, editing and the state of newspapers in the Internet age.

Jeff Bercovici, Forbes: Forget That Survey. Here’s Why Journalism Is The Best Job Ever.
Nicholas Diakopoulos, Poynter Institute: What data & algorithms teach us about the language news orgs use (April 12)
John Diaz, San Francisco Chronicle: Worst job in America? No way
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Future of journalism needs a rewrite
Rem Rieder, USA Today: Extra, extra: Newspapers aren’t dead yet (April 10)
Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press: Grammar and cursive may be out, but the writing is on the wall (April 7)
Barry Saunders, News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.: Mandatory cursive? You’ve got to be kidding
Lauren Simonds, Time: Good Writing Can Help You Succeed
Blanca Torres, National Association of Hispanic Journalists: Confessions of a Happy Journalist

S. Africa Increases Curbs on Press Freedom

“Despite pleas from press freedom groups and stalwarts of the struggle against apartheid, South Africa’s Parliament on Thursday passed a much-criticized secrecy bill that will increase the government’s power to restrict access to information and impose hefty fines and jail terms on reporters who publish information the government classifies as secret,” Lydia Polgreen reported Thursday for the New York Times.

“The bill was first passed in 2011, but the government modified it because of complaints that it would unduly restrict freedom of the press. But journalism advocates said that the revised bill remained too restrictive, and vowed to challenge it in the constitutional court if President Jacob Zuma signs it into law, as is expected. . . .”

Emsie Ferreira, South African Press Association: South Africa: Assembly Adopts Info Bill

CNN, NBC, ABC Have Used “Undocumented,” Not “Illegal”

CNN and NBC News told Journal-isms this week that their networks were using the term “undocumented immigrant” before the Associated Press announced this month that its stylebook “no longer sanctions the term ‘illegal immigrant’ or the use of ‘illegal’ to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that ‘illegal’ should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.”

Meghan Pianta, an NBC News spokeswoman said by email, “For some time, the NBC News policy has been to use the term ‘undocumented immigrants or workers.’ “

Bridget Leininger of CNN said, “Our style is ‘undocumented immigrant’ or ‘undocumented worker.’ ” ABC News spokesman Jeffrey W. Schneider said earlier in the week that ABC has used the terms “undocumented worker” and “undocumented immigrant.”

CBS News and Fox News Channel did not respond to an inquiry.

“On Tuesday, The New York Times updated its policies on how it uses the phrase ‘illegal immigrant’ in its coverage,” Christine Haughney reported that day for the Times. “The newspaper did not go as far as The Associated Press, and it will continue to allow the phrase to be used for ‘someone who enters, lives in or works in the United States without proper legal authorization.’ But it encourages reporters and editors to ‘consider alternatives when appropriate to explain the specific circumstances of the person in question, or to focus on actions.’ “

Philip B. Corbett, the Times’ associate managing editor for standards, responded Thursday to the Asian American Journalists Association, one of many organizations critical of the Times position:

“You write: ‘We agree with AP that “illegal” should not be used to describe people but be used to describe the actions people take,’ ” Corbett wrote.

“It’s hardly the most important element of the discussion, and I understand the overall sensitivity of the language, but it’s simply wrong to suggest that “illegal immigrant” is a unique case of using “illegal” to modify a noun referring to a person.

“A very cursory search of nytimes.com turns up hundreds of uses of other such phrases – illegal tenants, illegal renters, illegal loggers, illegal miners, illegal parkers, illegal drivers, and no doubt others I haven’t thought of.

“I realize that none of those carry the same political freight as ‘illegal immigrant.’ I just wanted to point out that this construction is a perfectly ordinary one, in which a reader understands that it is the specific action that is being characterized as ‘illegal.’ An ‘illegal tenant’ is not an illegal person who rents an apartment, but rather a person who is renting illegally. Similarly, ‘illegal immigrant’ does not describe an ‘illegal person,’ but rather a person who has immigrated illegally.”

Lauren Victoria Burke, Politic365: Immigration: Black Caucus to Fight for Diversity Visas and African, Caribbean Immigrants
Dave Montez, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation: New York Times missed the mark by not dropping the term “illegal”

ADL Loses Bid to Stop Honor for Arab-American Publisher

Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, joined four others who were inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Sunday, despite the objections of the Anti-Defamation League.

“The ADL called on Michigan State University to reconsider the induction of Osama Siblani, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Arab American News, to the university-run Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame due to ‘his newspaper’s repeated publication of anti-Semitic diatribes and rhetoric,’ ” Sam Sokol reported April 17 for the Jerusalem Post.

“Siblani is also the chairman of the Congress of Arab American Organizations, a major voice in the Arab-American community.

“According to its website: ‘The Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame recognizes reporters, editors, publishers, owners, photographers, broadcasters, educators, and others who have made outstanding contributions to the profession.’

“The Anti-Defamation League accused Siblani’s newspaper, published in both English and Arabic, of being a ‘forum for hate’ in an April 12 letter to Lucinda Davenport, the head of MSU’s journalism hall of fame. . . .” Siblani’s newspaper quoted a statement from MSU spokesman Kent Cassella in its Thursday edition: “After reviewing the concerns raised by the Anti-Defamation League, members of the selection committee support their earlier decision.

“The Hall of Fame selection committee believes in the freedom of the press and the right to freely express one’s views, although it may not always agree with all the views expressed by its inductees, or those printed in publications with which the inductees are affiliated.”

The Arab-American News also named the members on the committee: “Tim Boudreau, from Central Michigan University, Sue Carter from Michigan State University, Lucinda Davenport from Michigan State University, Janet Geissler from Mid-Michigan Chapter, Jayne Hodak from Michigan Association of Broadcasters, Tina Lonski from Michigan Press Women, Maureen McDonald from Association of Women in Communications of Detroit, Walter Middlebrook from the Detroit Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, Gloria Olman from Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, Rochelle Riley from the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, Jam Sardar from the Michigan Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, Kendall Wingrove from Michigan State University, and at-large Members Bob Giles and Janet Mendler.”

Short Takes

“This photo was posted yesterday to Rupert Murdoch’s excellent new Tumblr, Murdoch Here,” John Cook wrote Thursday for Gawker, referring to the photo at right. “It’s captioned, ‘Hanging with the Dow Jones team today.’ Cool hang. I think I might be able to see a couple people who aren’t white?”
“Last Sunday, I wrote a column saying too much money flows out of the black community and that black-owned stores need the support of the community to survive,” James Causey wrote Thursday for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “As a result, some people called me a racist on JSOnline.” He then listed some of the comments. In his syndicated Miami Herald column, Leonard Pitts Jr. also wrote about civility. “We can’t even agree on who we are anymore, so swamped are we by the rage red holds for blue,” Pitts wrote.
“Conversations with Ed Gordon,” a quarterly, one-hour special with the journalist best known for his work at BET, begins syndication Sunday, Gordon’s company announced this week. Gordon is host and executive producer. The specials are being aired nationally, including on the 10 NBC owned-and-operated affiliates. The first show features comedians Kevin Hart and Whoopi Goldberg and the singer Kem. Airdates, times and markets are at http://www.edgordon.net/conversations.htm.
The Ford Foundation is seeking a program officer to lead its Media and Justice initiative, part of the Foundation’s Freedom of Expression unit. Calvin Sims, who succeeded Jon Funabiki in the job, is ending his six-year, term-limited tenure at the end of the year. “The Program Officer will manage a diverse portfolio of grants, including public broadcasters, traditional news organizations, innovative new models of reporting and newsgathering, and other groups who advance media in the public interest. . . ” according to a portion of the job description.
John Stemberger, “a scoutmaster and anti-gay activist, went head-to-head with openly-gay CNN anchor Don Lemon and pro-gay activist and viral video hero Zach Wahls,” Alana Horowitz wrote Friday for the Huffington Post. Stemberger warned that the repeal of the Scouts’ ban on gay members “would ‘destroy scouting as we know it.’ ‘What do you mean it’s going to destroy scouting? I’m openly gay and I was a Boy Scout,’ shot back Lemon. . . .”
“In El Paso, the former school superintendent is now in prison, the Justice Department is investigating, and more school officials are being fired — all the fallout of a widespread cheating scandal in which top educators tried to game standardized test scores so they could collect undeserved bonuses,” Richard Parker wrote Friday for Columbia Journalism Review. “That scandal came to light thanks to years of dogged reporting by Zahira Torres and the support of her former editor at the El Paso Times. The work of Torres and the Times has triggered investigations, sparked legislative measures that might help children whose education was harmed, and garnered a passel of journalistic honors — including this laurel from CJR, for proving that even in times of shrinking newsrooms, hard-hitting investigations remain not just possible, but vital. . . .”
A memorial service celebrating the life of Lynne Duke, a former Washington Post editor and reporter who died at 56 on April 19, has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Washington Post.
The Washington Post is “creating what we’ll call the Hub Rotation, an opportunity for staffers across the newsroom to spend some time — a couple of days, a week, maybe longer — participating in the decisions made in the hub and bringing their sensibilities to the work we’re producing, Managing Editor Kevin Merida and Deputy Managing Editor Scott Vance told staffers Friday in a memo. “Participants could help identify and evaluate contenders for A1, for example, and work with editors and reporters to help elevate stories when needed. They could take part in the daily debate over the mix of stories and photo selection for the next day’s print front page. They could help organize breaking news coverage online, and join real-time discussions about homepage play and programming. . . . ”
“Was it simply a ‘cold business decision’ or a callous act of censorship?” veteran journalist Linn Washington Jr. asked Tuesday on his website This Can’t Be Happening! Washington said legendary pro-basketball player Shaquille O’Neal “put a power move on Stephen Vittoria blocking this respected filmmaker’s showing of his latest documentary at the movie complex O’Neal co-owns in downtown Newark, NJ, the city where both of these men were born.” The movie, in which Washington appears, is “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary,” about Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia policeman. It was to have opened in the city on Friday. Dave Zirin weighed in for the Nation.
“María Elena Fernández, who in January of this year took a buyout from The Daily Beast, has been hired as a Los Angeles-based entertainment correspondent for NBCNews.com and Today.com. She starts the new job on May 6,” Veronica Villafañe reported Friday for her Media Moves site.
“Long-time broadcast anchor Amanda Davis Thursday night announced her retirement from WAGA-TV after more than 26 years at the station,” Rodney Ho reported for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He added, “Davis was arrested by Atlanta police Nov. 11 after she crashed her car going northbound in a southbound lane on Piedmont Ave. off 14th Street in Midtown, hitting and injuring another driver. She was charged with reckless driving, failure to maintain lane and DUI. She was taken off the air and has been awaiting trial at Fulton County state court. . . .”
Janet Kwak has joined KGTV-TV in San Diego, Calif., as a general assignment reporter. “She joins 10News from Los Angeles, where she worked as a general assignment reporter for KNBC. Prior to that, she served as a reporter and fill-in anchor at WOAI in San Antonio . . .,” her bio says.
“Shannon Sims is joining Milwaukee NBC affiliate WTMJ as a weekend anchor,” Merrill Knox reported Wednesday for TVSpy. “Sims comes from Cincinnati, where she has been freelancing as a morning reporter and fill-in anchor at WXIX. She was released from her contract at WKEF-WRGT in Dayton after a year as the station’s main anchor in January.”
Mychal Denzel Smith, a blogger at TheNation.com and a Knobler Fellow at the Nation Institute, has been hired full-time at the Nation, Chris O’Shea reported Friday for FishbowlNY. He will focus on focus on “racial and criminal justice, and the politics of respectability.”
The International Press Institute Thursday “condemned the attempted assassination of journalist Mansour Nour in Yemen and urged authorities to take adequate steps in combating the persisting violence reporters face in the country,” Konstantin Balev reported for the institute.
“Over the past few days, following the rape of a five-year-old girl, the Indian government has been rocked once again by the alliance of the news media and Delhi’s street protesters,” Manu Joseph wrote Wednesday for the International Herald Tribune. “In my latest Letter From India I argue that Delhi’s new breed of demonstrators are getting better at street protests and sustaining the interest of journalists, while the government has yet to learn how to create a smart and dignified self-defense. . . .”
“A British journalist trying to cover the Delhi gang rape trial was asked to leave the courtroom on Tuesday after the prosecution objected to the presence of the international press,” Sumit Galhotra reported Thursday for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Andrew Buncombe, a correspondent for The Independent of London, was ejected from a court in the Indian capital even though a wide-ranging order restricting press coverage had been lifted last month. . . . ”
“The hacked-up bodies of a photojournalist and another young man have been found in the northern Mexico city of Saltillo, authorities said Thursday,” E. Eduardo Castillo reported for the Associated Press. “Photographer Daniel Martinez Bazaldua, 22, had recently been hired to cover social events for Vanguardia, the paper said in a story in its online edition. Officials identified the other man as Julian Zamora, 23. . . .”
“The national leadership the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has decried what appears as an emerging repressive media environment in Nigeria, citing the recent arrest of four journalists of the LEADERSHIP Newspaper, saying that ‘the union viewed their arrest as a siege on the media,’ ” Matthias Nwogu reported Friday for the newspaper.
“Egypt Independent, the country’s premier independent English language news source, ceased publication on Thursday after four years during which its staff chronicled the waning days of the Mubarak regime, the outbreak of revolution in their own country and across the Arab world, military rule and most recently the administration of the first democratically elected Islamist leader of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi,” Liam Stack reported Thursday for the New York Times.
“An Istanbul court convicted a Turkish editor of ‘publicly insulting the president’ and sentenced him to a conditional term of 14 months in prison, according to news reports, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported on Thursday. “Ali Örnek would be jailed if he repeats the perceived offense sometime in the next five years under amendments to Turkey’s criminal code introduced in 2012.”